there has been a decline in suicide attack on the capital only the odd revenge attacks on the Pakistan Army.
As usual, you're right on it..Here is a list of suicide attacks since the new government took over!
February 19
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly followed closely by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) in the elections held on February 18. The PPP led with 87 seats out of 272, followed by 66 for the PML-N, and 38 for the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). Among the smaller parties, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement won 19 seats and the Pakhtun nationalist Awami National Party got 10 seats. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a religious coalition which won 59 seats in 2002, was able to win only three this time. Other political parties - the PPP-Sherpao, the Balochistan National Party, the National Peoples Party and the PML-F - got one, one, two, and four seats, respectively. Independent candidates won 27 seats.
Zardari and Nawaz Sharif separately called for President Pervez Musharraf to quit after his allies were defeated in the general elections. "Musharraf had said he would quit when the people tell him to. The people have now given their verdict," Nawaz told a press conference in Lahore. "We will now take this demand (of the presidents resignation) with us to the parliament and see which political forces support us," Zardari told BBC.
February 21
Unidentified assailants shot dead three traffic policemen in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. Bibarg Baloch, a spokesman of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The PPP and the PML-N agreed to form coalition governments, including with the ANP. "We have agreed on a common agenda. We will work together to form the government in the centre and in the provinces
We will ensure that you complete a full five years term," Nawaz Sharif told a press conference in Islamabad after talks with PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. Zardari said there were "a lot of grounds to cover" between the two parties, but added: "Inshallah (God willing) we will be meeting off and on. In principle, we have agreed to stay together." The PPP and the ANP agreed to work together for the supremacy of parliament, judicial reforms, provincial autonomy and war on terror, Zardari and ANP President Asfandyar Wali told reporters after their meeting.
February 22
A remote-controlled bomb exploded at a wedding party procession, killing 14 people and wounding 13 others, mostly children, in the Matta administrative division of Swat district. The bomb, which was detonated in the Ronial Takh Maira area of the region, exploded around 4pm (PST) when the wedding party was travelling from Kandogai village to Pir Dar Baba village.
February 23
Three SF personnel were killed and six others sustained injuries when armed men attacked a check-post on the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. A police official claimed that a militant was also killed and several others were injured in an exchange of fire.
February 24
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said that they were ready for peace talks with the new Government, but only if it rejected President Pervez Musharrafs "war on terror" in the countrys tribal belt. A TTP spokesman quoted Baitullah Mehsud as calling for negotiations with parties that beat the presidents allies in elections. "The Taliban movement welcomes the victory of anti-Musharraf political parties... and announces its willingness to enter into negotiations with them for bringing peace," Taliban spokesman Maulana Omar said, quoting a statement by Mehsud. He urged the new administration to "avoid repeating the mistakes of the Musharraf government."
February 25
A suicide bomber killed eight people, including the Pakistan Armys surgeon general, in Rawalpindi - the highest-ranking military official killed since the country joined the US-led war on terror. Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig, surgeon general and Director-General of the armys Medical Services, died after a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up next to a military convoy on a busy road in Rawalpindi. Five civilians were also killed, while 25 others were injured, an army statement said.
Five workers of a NGO were killed while ten others sustained injuries in an attack by a group of ten militants in Mansehra in the NWFP. The British-run NGO was actively distributing relief goods, including food items, blankets and utensils, among the earthquake victims.
Three security force (SF) personnel were killed and five others injured when a remote control bomb hit their vehicle in Sangsila area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan.
Two persons died when their motorcycle hit a landmine adjacent to the Sindh-Balochistan border in the jurisdiction of the RD-109 police station near Kashmore in Jacobabad.
February 26 Armed men shot dead two civilians in the Noshki area of Balochistan. Police sources said Ikram Ahmed and Khadim Hussain were engaged in repair work in the Noshki district jail when two armed men riding a motorbike opened fire on them, killing them on the spot. A spokesman for the Baloch Republican Army has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Two suspected militants were killed in an encounter with the police at Dildar Ghari check-post in the Charsadda district of NWFP. The encounter ensued in the jurisdiction of Batgram police station when a group of militants started indiscriminate firing at the police party after the latter asked them to lay down arms and surrender.
In a suspected sectarian incident, a Shia leader was shot dead in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. Police officials said that Haji Ghulab Hussain was going to his shop at around 9:15am (PST) when unidentified assailants opened fire and injured him seriously in the jurisdiction of Khan Raziq Shaheed police station.
The Interior Ministry said that security forces had arrested more than 440 militants, including 60 would-be suicide bombers, in the last three months. Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier (r) Javed Cheema told reporters, "Security agencies have arrested 442 terrorists and militants during the past three months. From 60 of these terrorists, suicide jackets and other material was confiscated, which shows the law enforcement agencies are in protective mode and stopped them from launching suicide attacks." Cheema said that 17 suspects had been arrested in Punjab, 26 in Sindh, 13 in the NWFP and 122 in Balochistan. Similarly, 124 alleged militants were arrested in Swat while 140 surrendered to security forces. He said that 45kgs of explosive, eight detonators with leads, five remote controls with chargers and 10 hand-grenades had been seized in Punjab. 43 kilograms of explosives, 44 detonators, two rocket-launchers and 53 hand-grenades were seized in Sindh. In the NWFP, 50,096 kgs of explosives, 26 hand-grenades, 10 explosive jackets, 16 dynamites, 14 detonators, four rocket-launchers, 11 missiles, 32 mortar shells and 24 safety fuses were recovered. The spokesman said that from February 1 to date, 770kgs of explosive had been seized and two explosives-laden vehicles impounded in Swat. He added that 18 explosive devices, 96 detonators, 75kgs of explosive, 112 hand-grenades, 246 mortar shells, 56 mines, 19 rocket launchers and four AA guns had also been seized from the militants.
February 28
At least 10 suspected militants were killed in a missile strike on a house in South Waziristan. The dead were believed to be of Pakistani and foreign origins, residents and officials said. The attack occurred at approximately 2AM (PST) in Kaloosha village, 10 kilometers west of Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan.
February 29
Forty people were killed and more than 75 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the funeral prayers of the slain Deputy Superintendent of Police (Lakki Marwat), Javed Iqbal Khan, in the Mingora city of Swat district. District Police Officer Waqif Khan said the bomber was among the people taking part in the funeral. The blast occurred when the funeral concluded and the people had started to disperse. Deputy Superintendent of Police Javed Iqbal, who died in a bomb blast along with three other policemen in the troubled southern Lakki Marwat district on February 29-morning, belonged to Makan Bagh in Mingora city.
The banned Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) reportedly drew several hundred supporters near its headquarters in Karachi as it denounced the blasphemous caricatures of the holy Prophet published in some Danish newspapers, and declared jihad against Denmark and the West if they continued to insult Islam. It was the fist major public rally by the SSP since it was banned in 2001. The SSPs protest took place after Friday prayers at the SSP headquarters at Masjid-e-Siddique Akbar in the Nagan Chowrangi area.
The district government of Bannu has dismissed 35 Frontier Constabulary personnel from service for laying down their weapons and refusing to fight the Taliban, The Post reported.
March 1
A civilian and a soldier were killed and 23 persons, including eight security force personnel, injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a security forces vehicle in the Jardar area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA.
March 2
Forty-two people were killed and at least 58 others sustained injuries in a suicide bombing at a tribal peace jirga (council) near the Zarghunkhel check-post in Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP. The jirga of Zarghunkhel, Akhurwal, Sheraki, Bostikhel and Toor Chapper tribes had been convened to discuss the formation of a Lashkar (army) to drive militants out of the area. A severed head was reportedly found at the site and officials believed it was that of the bomber. Some people identified the teenager as a youth from the Sheraki area of Darra Adam Khel.
March 3 At least 10 people were killed and six others injured when dozens of armed men belonging to the Khyber Agency-based Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) attacked Shiekhan village on the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, with rocket launchers and other sophisticated weapons before bulldozing a shrine and four houses. "Dozens of armed men of Mangal Bagh-led militant organisation attacked Shiekhan village at around 11.30 am. The villagers, mostly unarmed and unprepared, resisted the assault that resulted into a fierce clash between the rival groups," said a police official.
Five militants were killed in a clash with the SFs at the Nakai check-post in the Mohmand Agency of the FATA. An official said that SFs had stopped a car at the check-post, about 12 km north of Ghalanai, the Agencys headquarters, and told its five occupants that they needed to be frisked, but the latter refused. The militants subsequently tried to escape and in the ensuing encounter, SF personnel fired a rocket on the car, killing the five.
March 4
Eight persons were killed and 24 others sustained injuries when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the parking area of the Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore. The incident occurred at around 1:10 pm (PST) when classes in the Pakistan Navy War College were in progress. Eyewitnesses and police officials said five Navy officials and two suicide bombers died on the spot while one Navy official succumbed to injuries at a hospital.
Four militants and a villager were killed in a gun-battle which erupted in the Khankhel area of Lakki Marwat district of the NWFP after the abduction of a union council official and his two associates. Two of the militants were Uzbek nationals while the rest were tribal Wazirs, District Police Officer Romail Akram said, adding that an Uzbek militant had been arrested.
March 5
Anwarul Haq, an al Qaeda militant involved in the killing of an American diplomat, was sentenced to death in Karachi. One of the accused, however, was acquitted for lack of evidence. US diplomat David Foy and three others died when an attacker rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into his car on March 2, 2006 in Karachi.
March 9
The PPP and the PML-N agreed on a power-sharing formula to form a coalition government at the Centre and in Punjab. The parties also decided to re-instate the judges sacked on November 3 though a resolution in parliament, within 30 days of the formation of the federal government. According to the deal, the prime minister and the speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly will be from the PPP, and the federal cabinet will include ministers from the PML-N. The Punjab chief minister and the speaker and the deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly will be from the PML-N and the provincial cabinet will include ministers from the PPP.
Caretaker Interior Minister Lt Gen (r) Hamid Nawaz Khan claimed that around 200 militants have so far surrendered to the authorities in the Swat district of NWFP. He told PTV that 422 people had been arrested in Swat for their involvement in terrorist activities. "Six tonnes of explosive material has also been recovered from the area," he added. "Security agencies have averted 20 to 30 possible incidents of terrorism in the Punjab and Sindh during Muharram and the elections," the minister said.
March 10
The Taliban in Mohmand Agency of South Waziristan said that they were attacking security forces in the agency to avenge the killing of five of their men a week ago.
March 11
At least 30 people were killed and more than 200 sustained injuries in suicide blasts at the FIA headquarters and an advertising agency office in Lahore. The first attack was carried out at the FIA regional headquarters on Temple Road, severely damaging the eight-storey establishment and adjacent buildings. The building also housed the offices of a special US-trained unit created to counter terrorism. The suicide bombers on a pick-up rammed through the gate of the building, running over a policeman before blowing up the vehicle. The second attack was carried out on Bungalow No 83/F in Model Town the office of an advertising agency. Two children and a gardener died in the bombing and about 12 people were injured.
11 people, including two women, were killed and over a dozen injured in fighting between the security forces and tribal militants in the Nawagai sub-division of Bajaur Agency. The fighting erupted after militants attacked the paramilitary FC personnel, who were fetching water from a nearby stream.
Four women and two children were killed when artillery shells fired from the Afghan side of the border hit a number of houses in the Tangri area of North Waziristan. Local people said that the area came under fire after a security camp in Afghanistans Khost province adjacent to North Waziristan had been attacked by some people.
March 12
Policemen Mustafa and Suleman were killed and two others were wounded when the roadside bomb they were defusing exploded in the Charbagh area in the Swat district of NWFP.
Two people, suspected to be Taliban facilitators, were killed when the bomb they were making exploded in the Kabal sub-division of Swat district.
March 14
Dutch police have arrested a Pakistani man who they say is linked to a jihadi network which was largely dismantled after raids in Barcelona during January 2008. The 26-year-old suspect was detained in the south-western Dutch town of Breda, the public prosecutors office said in a statement. The detainee was "suspected of belonging to a global jihadist network which prepares attacks in western Europe", the statement said.
March 15
A powerful bomb blast occurred at the Italian restaurant Luna Caprese in Islamabad, killing a Turkish woman, Inder Baskar, who worked for a Turkish relief agency, and wounding about 15 others, including some US diplomats.
At least five persons, including four tribesmen and one Taliban, were killed and another seven wounded, including five Taliban militants, as two rival groups exchanged fire during a local jirga in the Mir Ali subdivision of North Waziristan.
March 16
At least 20 people were killed as several missiles hit a house in South Waziristan. Seven missiles landed on the house of Noorullah in Toog village, located four kilometres south of Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan. Local journalist Sailab Mehsud said 20 people were killed and five others wounded in the missile attack. He said all those who died were Arabs and Turkmen, who had gathered at the house when the attack occurred.
Police in Islamabad arrested 232 suspects in connection with the March 15 bombing of an Italian restaurant. "Those who were arrested include students of various madrassas of Islamabad," an unnamed official said.
Three Saudi militants have been handed over by Pakistan, the Saudi interior ministry said. The three "were in Pakistan. Further investigation will tell if they were in other areas," ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki told AFP in a reference to Afghanistan.
March 17
Two policemen, Toor Gul and Aanayatur Rehman, were killed and five others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself in the police barracks in Mingora in the Swat district. District Police Officer Waqif Khan said that a young man posing as a recruit and holding a police uniform entered the barracks at Mingora Police Line and subsequently approached the wireless room and blew himself up.
March 20
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a military vehicle in front of the brigade headquarters at Zari Noor in South Waziristan, killing five soldiers and injuring 11 others. A man claiming to be a spokesman for the pro-government militant commander Maulana Nazir claimed responsibility for the attack. It is for the first time that Maulana Nazirs group has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack.
At least three nomads are feared to have been killed after some rockets fired from the Afghan territory, hit a makeshift house near the Angoor Adda in South Waziristan.
March 21
Four persons were killed and 28 others injured after clashes erupted between Shia and Sunni Muslims during a Nauroz (Persian New Year festival) procession in the Hangu district of NWFP.
March 22
The PPP nominated Yousaf Raza Gillani, its vice chairman, for Prime Ministers post in consultation with coalition partners.
March 23
Two persons were killed and 50 others injured when six bomb blasts ripped through two parking lots, and destroyed 40 oil tankers in the Bacha Mina area near the Torkham Border crossing in Khyber Agency. Each oil tanker carried around 45,000 litres of fuel, sources said.
March 24
The National Assembly elected PPP Vice Chairman Yousaf Raza Gillani as the countrys new prime minister, with the highest number of votes in Pakistans parliamentary history. Gillani won with a majority of 264 votes in the 342-seat Lower House, compared to his competitor, the PML-Qs Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, securing only 42 votes. Three Members of the National Assembly - Maulana Asmatullah of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Ideological, Faqir Jadem Mangrio and Ghulam Dastgir Rajar of the PML-Functional - chose to abstain from the voting process.
March 25
Unidentified gunmen killed three people, including a woman, in the Matta sub-division of Swat district in the NWFP.
March 26
Seven people, including two women, were killed and two others sustained injuries when gunmen ambushed a Government ambulance in the Lower Kurram region. The ambulance was going to Peshawar from Parachinar when it came under attack at the Chappari check-post.
March 27
Two officers of the Intelligence Bureau believed to be involved in anti-Al Qaeda operations were shot dead on a busy street near Regal Chowk in Karachi. Tahir Naveed, a police officer, stated that it was apparently a case of targeted killing.
Taliban spokesman Maulana Umar warned tribal elders against meeting US officials, while welcoming ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khans "refusal" to meet top US officials. "If tribal people do not stop meeting US officials, we will view them as American agents," the spokesman said in telephone calls to local reporters from an undisclosed location. Key tribal elders from Khyber Agency in the FATA had met US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher in Landikotal on March 26.
March 30
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said that it was ready for talks with the Government, provided that Islamabad reverses its pro-American policies. TTP leaders told a rally in the Inayat Kalay Bazaar of Bajaur Agency in the FATA that they welcomed Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillanis announcement that the Government would negotiate with the Taliban and end the Frontier Crimes Regulations. TTP leaders, including Maulana Faqir Muhammad, Maulana Sher Bahadar, Muhammad Ismail, and party spokesman Maulana Omar, also demanded the implementation of Sharia law and the jirga system according to tribal traditions. They also said jihad against America would continue in Afghanistan. However, they added that they were ready to end their activities and improve law and order in Pakistan if the Government showed flexibility.
Al Qaeda is training western-looking operatives in the tribal areas of Pakistan, making it easier for them to get past security at US airports, according to CIA Director Michael Hayden. Talking on NBCs news programme Meet the Press, Hayden said the most likely point of origin from where terrorists would launch another attack against the US was the sanctuary in tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan. He also said that the agency believed Osama bin Laden was in the border region, between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but he was "not operationally involved." He "is more of an iconic figure" for the global terrorist movement, Hayden stated, adding that killing or capturing him and deputy commander Ayman Al Zawahiri remained a "high priority for the CIA."
March 31
A man and a woman were stoned to death by militants in the Khwezai-Baezai area of Mohmand Agency after a qazi court (Islamic court) found them guilty of adultery. This is the first incident of Rajam (stoning to death) carried out in FATA. Earlier, couples found guilty of adultery by militants or tribesmen were executed by firing squads.
At least two people were killed and 10 others sustained serious injuries in the Swat district. The Deputy Superintendent of Police in the Matta sub-division, Haroon Babar, said that militants ambushed a convoy of about 35 elders at the Malikabad area when they were on their way to the Venai checkpoint.
Authorities should only use force as a last resort against militants near the Afghan border, newly elected NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said. Addressing the provincial assembly, he said the use of force in the past made it harder to bring peace to the province. He said his Government would, instead, promote dialogue at all levels. "Well make every effort to restore peace in the province. Well form traditional jirgas for peace," he stated. The Awami National Partys Hoti was elected as Chief Minister unopposed on March 31.
April 6
Sectarian violence broke out between Shia and Sunni sects in three villages of Kurram Agency in the FATA after a bomb exploded at Khurmana Pul, killing three people and injuring 22 others. A 16-member jirga (council) consisting of elders of the two sects intervened and brokered a truce between the warring groups in the villages of Khwar Kalay, Balish Khel and Sangeena, in the presence of political administration officials.
Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi has said that reconciliation efforts have begun in the province and the new Government will take steps to make them successful. He informed the media in provincial capital Quetta that stopping military operation and restoring peace and normality in the province would be the new Governments priority. He said the Governments first task should be to initiate dialogue with dissidents because the use of force over the past five years had not yielded any positive result.
April 7
The Balochistan Assembly in its inaugural session unanimously adopted a resolution calling for an immediate end to military operations in the province. The resolution also called for the release of Balochistan National Party (Mengal faction) chief Akhtar Mengal and all detained political activists, and the rehabilitation of Balochistans internally displaced people. The House also passed a resolution unanimously calling for an UN-led investigation into former Prime Minister Benazir Bhuttos assassination. A resolution moved by 12 legislators demanded a judicial inquiry into the murder of former Balochistan governor Nawab Akbar Bugti and former Member of Provincial Assembly Balaach Marri. Another related resolution called for an UN-supervised probe into their murders, and demanded that Bugtis body be handed over to his family. The fourth resolution demanded the abolition of the police and restoration of the Levies Force.
The new coalition Government will not negotiate with "terrorists", Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. "We will not negotiate with terrorists, but we will engage [them in dialogue] and we believe in political engagement," Qureshi told Dawn News television in an interview.
The British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in Islamabad that there were connections between terrorist groups operating in the UK and Pakistan. Threats to the UK had connections in Pakistan, she said, adding that threats to Pakistan had been traced back to the UK.
April 7
All the religious outfits which were banned by General Pervez Musharraf during his military rule would approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan and seek restoration, said Hafiz Saeed, chief of the proscribed LeT. "The ban was a step that the retired General took only to please America and now it is abundantly clear that people have rejected his policies," Saeed told The News. He criticised President Musharraf's Kashmir policy and alleged that the 'U-turn' taken by the Musharraf Government on Kashmir had badly damaged the cause of the Kashmiris' freedom struggle.
April 8
The NWFP Government launched a fresh peace process for the violence-hit Swat district by constituting a ministerial committee to initiate dialogue with different groups of militants. Provincial Information Minister Sardar Hussain Babak said that the provincial cabinet in its first meeting had decided to reactivate the jirga system to resolve the issue of militancy through peaceful means.
April 9
Armed supporters of the TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah reappeared in the Matta sub-division of Swat district and were seen marching on the roads. According to locals, commanders Iqbal Hussain and Ikramuddin led the armed militants numbering between 40 and 45.
The proscribed BLA has rejected the Governments offer for talks, saying it was not ready even to consider it. Talking to Dawn by a satellite phone, the BLA spokesman Beebarg Baloch said: "We regard the Governments offer for talks as its defeat because previously it was not ready even to recognise the existence of the BLA." He said that three pillars of what he called genocide of the Baloch nation - establishment, the army and the Musharraf-led system - were intact and the Government could not hoodwink the Baloch people. He said that two former governors of Balochistan, a chief minister, a provincial minister and a federal minister were on the hit-list of the BLA.
April 11
JeM and LeT, the Pakistan-based terrorist groups, are among the 44 outfits designated as Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTO) by the US. Besides these two, other groups active in India the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami and Pakistan-based HuM are also in the FTO list issued by the office of the coordinator for counter terrorism of the US Department of State. "FTO designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressurising groups to get out of the terrorism business," a State Department statement said. Other groups of the South Asia include LTTE and LeJ.
April 12
Eight people were killed and 10 others injured in fresh violence between rival groups of the Kurram Agency, raising the death toll of the past eight days in the area to 35. Five tribesmen Qadir Gul, Hamid Hussain, Rafique, Taib Khan and Abdul Hanan were killed, and 10 injured, during a clash in the Marro Khel area of Lower Kurram Agency. Similarly, three people were shot dead by armed rival groups in the areas of Balishkhel, Sadda, Karman, Para Chamkani, Pewar and Teri Mengal.
Three dead bodies of security force personnel, who were reported lost during a military operation earlier this year in South Waziristan, were found.
April 14
The death toll in the ongoing sectarian violence rose to 48 as seven more persons were killed and 16 others sustained injuries in Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency. Five people were killed when a mortar shell hit a trench in Parachamkani and one each was killed in the Balashkhel and Sadda areas.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has urged the Government to honour its pledge regarding holding negotiations with the Taliban to pave way for durable peace in the FATA.
The National Assembly asked the Government to approach the United Nations to get former Prime Minister Benazir Bhuttos assassination investigated by an international commission, on the pattern of a probe into the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri.
The FBI Director Robert S Mueller told a meeting in London last week that al Qaeda would not "go quietly into the night," having established "new sanctuaries" in "ungoverned spaces, Tribal Areas, and the Frontier province of Pakistan." Addressing a meeting at Chatham House, Mueller said al Qaeda is resilient and its network is now diffused. He said a top tier is the core al Qaeda organisation, which has "established new sanctuaries in Pakistan", which means that it can "reconstitute its leadership, recruit new operatives, and regenerate its capability to attack."
April 15
Traders and industrialists said they had been receiving threatening letters from Lashkar-e-Islam in the Khyber Agency, causing the suspension of night shifts in scores of factories in industrial estates in Hayatabad.
A cease-fire was enforced in the Balishkhel, Sadda, Khwar Killay and Sangeena areas of the Kurram Agency in FATA after 11 days of sectarian violence, which left over 50 people dead and more than 100 wounded. Officials said the two factions had agreed to a cease-fire and vacate hilltops in the troubled areas of the Kurram Agency bordering Afghanistan.
A two-day Ghazi Islam Conference organized by the TTP began in the Mohmand Agency of FATA at the mausoleum of Haji Sahib Turangzai. Local ulema (religious scholars), Taliban leaders and delegations from the Tank and Swat districts of the NWFP, and the North and South Waziristan, Kurram Agency, Orakzai Agency and Bajaur Agency participated in the conference. However, the media has been prevented from reporting their names.
April 16
At least 20 persons were killed as fighting erupted between Lashkar-e-Islam activists and Kooki Khel tribesmen of the Khyber Agency in FATA.
The Governments claims of holding talks with Baloch insurgents are a "pack of lies" and the new Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi and Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani are "fooling themselves" by offering talks, the BLA said, and also issued a hit-list to kill two former governors and a former chief minister of Balochistan.
April 17
The Lashkar-e-Islam chief, Mangal Bagh, has said that his outfit is fighting against terrorism, crime and gambling and has 180000 volunteers in the Khyber Agency of FATA. Mangal Bagh also claimed that his outfit had no contacts with al Qaeda and any other organisation.
Harabyar Marri, son of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, has been released from a London jail on bail. Harabyar had been arrested in December 2007 and detained in London on terrorism charges, the channel said.
The United States Government Accountability Office said that terrorists are still operating freely in Pakistan along its Afghanistan border.
April 18
Militants of Bajaur Agency in the FATA offered shelter to Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar, should they ask for it. Militant commander Maulana Faqir Mohammad also offered a general amnesty to all their opponents, except alleged US spies and those involved in adultery, and announced the formation of various committees for settling people's conflicts.
April 19
Local Taliban in South Waziristan Agency publicly executed three people who had allegedly killed a teenager, Intezar Mehsud. The deceased, identified as Janan Mehsud, Farooq Wazir and an Afghan national, had allegedly murdered the boy who belonged to the Bandkhel tribe, after robbing him of PKR 60,000.
April 20
Three security force personnel were killed and a civilian was injured in the Hub area of Balochistan.
Ahmad Shah alias Mullah Ismail, a Taliban commander blamed for the deadliest attack on US troops since they entered Afghanistan in 2001, was killed in a shootout with security forces in Pakistan, US and Pakistani officials said. Police killed Ahmad Shah at a roadblock near Peshawar, an unnamed senior Pakistani intelligence official said.
The abductors of missing Pakistan envoy Tariq Azizuddin have demanded the release of 12 prisoners, including the men suspected of plotting Benazir Bhuttos assassination, in exchange for his freedom. The kidnappers demanded the release of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, the TSNM chief Maulana Sufi, five Afghan Taliban militants and the three men arrested on charges of allegedly plotting Benazir Bhuttos assassination Aitzaz Shah, Hussnain and Rafaqat.
The Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh claimed that he was repeatedly asked by Taliban militants in Waziristan and elsewhere in the FATA to make his armed group part of the TTP but he rejected the demand, as he didnt want to do anything that could harm the country.
April 21
The Balochistan Government withdrew all cases, including those of sedition, against detained former Balochistan Chief Minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal, but Mengals Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) rejected the move, terming it a "cosmetic measure taken by a powerless provincial government."
The NWFP Government has released Maulana Sufi Muhammad, chief of the banned militant organisation TNSM, under a peace deal to restore normalcy to Swat and its adjoining areas. "Sufi Muhammad and the jirga have given assurances that he and his companions will remain peaceful," NWFP Information Minister Sardar Hussain Babek told AFP.
Militants have warned the Government that they would resume fighting if it does not stop the military operations in Swat, South Waziristan and other Tribal Areas. Taliban spokesman Maulana Omar told reporters on the phone that they [Taliban] had nothing to do with the abduction of Tariq Azizuddin, Pakistans Ambassador to Afghanistan. He also said the Government had violated the "ceasefire".
There is "strong evidence" that al Qaeda operatives are present in the Tribal Areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
April 22
The Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Balochistan University, Dr. Safdar Kiyani, was shot dead by insurgents in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. According to sources, two people on a motorbike opened fire on Dr. Kiyani when he came out of his house in the Green Town area on Sariab road for an evening walk. The BLA has claimed responsibility for the murder. "He had been working for intelligence agencies and we had already warned him," the BLA spokesman Beebargh Baloch told reporters from an unspecified location.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, widely considered to be number two in the al Qaeda, criticised Muslims for failing to support Islamist insurgencies in Iraq and elsewhere in a new audiotape posted on the Internet. In several parts of the audio message, al-Zawahiri claimed that Taliban took over 95 per cent of Afghanistan and was sweeping Pakistan as well. "The Crusaders and their agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan are starting to fall," al-Zawahiri said.
More agreements between the NWFP Government and militants are in the pipeline, NWFP Law Minister Arshad Abdullah said. He said that the release of Maulana Sufi Muhammad, chief of the banned TNSM, was a step towards bringing peace to the Malakand division.
April 23
The leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baitullah Mehsud, has ordered his militants to "immediately cease their activities" in the FATA and NWFP. "Baitullah Mehsud has issued directives to all his comrades that in order to restore peace in the region, they should cease their activities forthwith both in the tribal region as well as the settled districts of the NWFP," said a pamphlet released on April 23. "He has warned that his directives should be complied with and those violating them will be publicly punished," it said. A spokesman for Baitullah confirmed the contents of the pamphlet circulated in South Waziristan in FATA and the adjoining districts of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP. A 15-point draft agreement, to be signed between the Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan and the local political administration, calls for an end to militancy, exchange of prisoners, withdrawal of the military and resolution of issues in accordance with local customs and the Frontier Crimes Regulation.
April 25
At least three people were killed and 26 injured when a car bomb exploded near Mardan City Police Station in the NWFP. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack. "This attack was carried out by our mujahideen to avenge the earlier killing of one of our commanders by police in Mardan," TTP spokesman Maulana Omar told Reuters by telephone.
April 26
Three Taliban militants and four suspected criminals were killed and several others, including women and children, injured in a clash in the Dadukhel area of the Mohmand Agency in FATA.
April 28
Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the TTP, has temporarily suspended talks with the Government over the armys refusal to withdraw from the FATA, his spokesman announced. The cease-fire announced by Mehsud last week would continue, spokesman Maulana Umar added.
The Islamabad High Court division bench granted bail to former Lal Masjid chief cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz in four cases involving the abduction of Chinese nationals and policemen, the murder of a Rangers trooper and terrorism against the state.
A report by the European Police Office is reported to have stated that Pakistans tribal areas is the "command and control centre" for al Qaedas "remaining core leadership" planning attacks in the EU.
If the Government does not remove all military check-posts from the Mohmand Agency in FATA within three days, the Taliban will not accept any peace agreement with the Government, militants spokesman Asad warned.
April 29
Militants killed three policemen and injured three others in Kohat. The officers were reportedly following the militants who had earlier stolen a taxi. "The attackers then opened fire and the policemen did not have a chance to retaliate
It appears to be a terrorist attack," the NWFP police chief Malik Naveed told AFP.
April 30
The local Taliban retook control of Darra Adam Khel in NWFP after talks between the administration and tribal elders to guarantee safety of the Indus Highway were deadlocked.
The NWFP Government has reportedly received a list of demands from the local Taliban to end the ongoing tension and restore peace in the Swat Valley of NWFP. Sources said that the Taliban have demanded the imposition of Shariah (Islamic law) in Malakand division, an end of all cases against the Taliban and amnesty for the local Taliban of the region. The Government is considering the demands to bring peace to the region, they added.
Maulana Fazlullah said that he is ready for talks with the Government. In a speech broadcast on his illegal FM radio station, he said that the Government must show sincerity in its efforts for peace to ensure successful negotiations. This was the first transmission by Fazlullahs radio station since it was shut down by troops during the military operation in 2007.
Al Qaeda's continued public calls to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf has remained a 'threat to Pakistan', said the US State Department's Country Report on Terrorism 2007 that has also declared attacks on Benazir Bhutto as the 'deadliest' of the previous year. The report said that despite having a huge presence of approximately 80,000 to 100,000 troops in the FATA, the Government's authority in the area continued to be challenged. It said military operations though disrupted militant activities no senior al Qaeda leader was either captured or killed in 2007.
May 1
The local Taliban have started sending their militants to Afghanistan to fight the United States-led NATO forces after announcing a cease-fire in Pakistan. An unnamed Taliban leader told BBC that the local Taliban leadership had started sending militants into Afghanistan after announcing a truce in Pakistan following an agreement with the new Government. He said that many Pakistani Taliban had crossed into Afghanistan in groups over the last few days to attack the US and NATO forces.
NWFP Chief Minister, Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, will reportedly unveil a $4 billion peace plan that envisages a 30 per cent reduction in militancy within three years, retrieval of the areas lost to militants and improvement in the writ of the state. The plan, put together by a task force of the Awami National Party, envisions a peace jirga (council) comprising provincial ministers and legislators. The Government has set up a peace committee for Malakand to restore peace in Swat but the plan proposes a larger jirga with its terms of reference outlined.
May 2
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that the military operations in Balochistan have been stopped. Addressing the Balochistan cabinet in the provincial capital Quetta, the Prime Minister also asked the federal and provincial Governments to withdraw all cases registered against former Chief Minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal so that he could be released. The Prime Minister also reportedly ordered the provincial Governments to use all available resources to trace the missing people of Balochistan and other provinces.
The head of the US armed forces warned that militants hiding in the FATA of Pakistan pose a direct threat to the United States and other Western nations. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are using the area to regroup and "I believe they are preparing to launch attacks against the US and Western interests," said Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.
May 4
The federal Government has decided to withdraw the Frontier Corps (FC) from Gwadar and Quetta and hand over the responsibility of managing the law and order to police in the two cities. However, officials said that FC troops would remain stationed in troubled areas like Dera Bugti and Kohlu to protect sensitive installations, including the Sui gas plant and the pipeline network supplying natural gas all over the country.
Al Qaeda based in Pakistan were behind last weeks assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Afghanistans intelligence chief said.
The Taliban blamed the Governments "inflexibility" for the lack of progress in negotiations. Talks between the Government and the TTP had stalled early this week after Baitullah Mehsud accused the Government of refusing to withdraw troops from the FATA and Swat in the NWFP.
May 5
An army official was injured when the Baitullah Mehsud-led Taliban militants launched their first attack on the army after peace talks in South Waziristan failed.
The TTP has banned musical alerts on mobile phones in the FATA. Geo News quoted a TTP spokesman as saying that TTP deputy chief Maulana Faqir Muhammad had banned playing music in vehicles as well as on cellular phones. He said that violators would be punished according to the Shariah (Islamic law).
The United States said that it wanted Pakistan to live up to its commitment of urgently bringing security under control in the FATA, allegedly used as a safe haven by al Qaeda and Taliban militants. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Islamabad recognised that bringing the mountainous and unpoliced FATA under control was an urgent priority for Pakistans own sake.
May 6
A pro-government elder of the Bugti tribe and his nephew were killed and three other people were injured in a bomb blast in Dera Allahyar in Balochistan. The Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility of the attack.
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a checkpoint in Bannu in the NWFP, killing a police constable and two civilians and injuring 12 persons, including four army soldiers and four policemen.
Suspected militants shot dead two policemen outside a bank in the Matta Bazaar of Swat district in the NWFP.
May 7
Two policemen and a civilian were shot dead in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, triggering a reaction by local businessmen, who shut down their businesses in protest against the killings. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.
An Afghan governor warned that radical groups in Pakistan were receiving funding from Arab nations for the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies. "They can finance Taliban activities for another 10 years," Laghman province Governor Lutfallah Mashal said at a meeting of the European Union officials, journalists and Afghan experts in Brussels.
May 8
Six militants were killed near the Wennai bridge in the Matta sub-division of Swat district in the NWFP.
Troops blocked the main road leading to the South Waziristan in a confrontation with al Qaeda-linked militants who operate in the region. The blockade of the road leading to South Waziristan on the Afghan border came after militants loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, set up check-posts on the road to exert control over the region.
May 9
The political administration in Bajaur Agency launched a crackdown on the Salarzai tribe and arrested over 50 people under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation. The administration also impounded 10 vehicles. The crackdown was launched after militants attacked a convoy of the Bajaur Scouts going to Latai Post from Khar and took 20 paramilitary soldiers hostage and snatched two vehicles and weapons from them on May 8. Sources said the militants later set the soldiers free but did not return the vehicles and weapons.
The Awami National Party-led Government in the NWFP and militants in the Swat district reached a cease-fire agreement. The truce was achieved after three hours of talks between a Government committee and a team of militants representing Maulana Fazlullah.
The Government freed the Balochistan National Party chief and former Chief Minister, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, after holding him in custody for one-and-a-half years over charges of abducting agents of an intelligence agency.
May 10
Unidentified assailants shot dead three Shia community members in the Dera Ismail Khan area of NWFP in an incident of suspected sectarian violence.
May 11
The TTP announced that the unilateral cease-fire announced in April 2008 has virtually ended and therefore the militants have resumed attacks on troops in some parts of the country. It also said that the Taliban had no intention to establish a Government within the Government or run a parallel judicial system. However, the spokesman made clear that the Taliban would take action against sins, injustices and malpractices if brought into their notice by the citizens. The Taliban didn't want to fight with army or police but the militants had to retaliate when they were attacked, he said. The spokesman said that the Taliban were fast spreading in other parts of the country in general and in the tribal areas as well as in most parts of the NWFP in particular, saying that all the Taliban were united under their leader, Baitullah Mehsud.
These missile strikes on Pakistan will only increase the violance that Musharraf has created, I bet he is behind the go ahead of the this strike, he has weekly meetings with The Chief of Army Staff.
Oh yes, Zardari could never put a foot wrong could he. In fact, I don't entirely disagree, as Zardari is only interested in cash money he can loot from Pakistan, Musharraf is more concerned with security.
Weird
